Changing between international flights at Delhi needs no Indian visa: you stay inside Terminal 3. Leaving the airport is another matter. India has no visa-free entry for US, UK, EU, Canadian or Australian passports, so you need an e-Visa, applied for online days before you fly.
No visa is needed to change between international flights at Delhi airport, as long as you stay inside Terminal 3. To leave the airport, US, UK, EU, Canadian and Australian passports need an Indian e-Visa: apply online at least 4 days ahead, and a week ahead if you can. The 30-day visa costs US$25 for most passports. Japanese and South Korean passports can get a visa on arrival for ₹2,000, and Indian citizens need nothing. Every foreign passport holder also fills in the free e-Arrival card before landing.
If you stay airside
If both your flights are international, your connection at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) stays inside Terminal 3, where every international flight arrives and leaves, and you don’t pass Indian immigration. Follow the orange international transfer signs to the transfer area, where your airline’s counter helps with your boarding pass, then go through security again to the departure level.
- No visa needed. Under India’s rules, a foreign passenger in direct transit by air needs no transit visa, as long as they stay inside the airport. If you’re in any doubt about your passport, ask your airline before you fly.
- No time limit is published for the transfer area. To sleep, the transit hotel inside Terminal 3 takes stays of up to 24 hours: at the airport.
- A connection to a flight within India means entering the country: you pass immigration and customs at Terminal 3 first, so you need a visa.
If you want to leave the airport
You’re entering India, even for a few hours, so you need a visa before you land. For most passports there’s no way to get one at the airport.
| Passport | What you need to leave Delhi airport |
|---|---|
| Indian | Nothing: you’re entering your own country |
| OCI cardholders | Your OCI card; no visa |
| US, UK, Canada, Australia | Indian e-Visa, applied for at least 4 days ahead |
| EU and Schengen | Indian e-Visa, applied for at least 4 days ahead |
| Japan, South Korea | Visa on arrival (₹2,000), or an e-Visa |
| Pakistan, or of Pakistani origin | A regular visa from an Indian mission: the e-Visa isn’t open to you |
Every foreign passport holder, OCI cardholders included, also fills in the e-Arrival card before landing.
The e-Visa
- What it is. India’s e-Tourist visa, applied for online on the Indian government’s site, indianvisaonline.gov.in. It’s open to most nationalities, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and the EU and Schengen countries. Other sites charge extra for the same form.
- When to apply. At least 4 days before you arrive, and no more than 120 days ahead. India doesn’t publish how long a decision takes, and an unclear photo or scan brings an e-mail asking you to upload it again, so apply a week or more before you fly if you can. You can’t get one at the airport.
- Cost. The 30-day visa costs US$25 for most passports from July to March, and US$10 from April to June, plus a 3% bank charge. Some countries pay a different fee: the fee table on the official site lists each one.
- What it covers. The 30-day e-Tourist visa allows several entries within 30 days of your first arrival, and can’t be extended. There are also 1-year and 5-year versions.
- Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months after you arrive and have at least 2 blank pages.
- Where it works. You can arrive on an e-Visa only at India’s designated airports, and Delhi is one of them.
Visa on arrival
Only for Japanese and South Korean passports, and for UAE passports that have held an Indian e-Visa or paper visa before. It costs ₹2,000, or the same in foreign currency, and the immigration officer can grant up to 60 days with two entries. Delhi is one of six airports that offer it.
The e-Arrival card
Every foreign passport holder, OCI cardholders included, fills in India’s e-Arrival card online in the 72 hours before landing, on indianvisaonline.gov.in, boi.gov.in or the Indian Visa Su-Swagatam app. It’s free, and it isn’t a visa: you still need one. Changing planes inside Terminal 3, you don’t pass immigration, so you don’t need the card.
The e-Transit visa
The same site also sells an e-Transit visa, for passing through India on the way to another country: 30 days from your first arrival, with several entries. It asks for your onward ticket and, if your destination needs one, that country’s visa too. For a sightseeing layover, the 30-day e-Tourist visa is the one this guide prices and plans around, and it doesn’t ask for your destination’s visa.
If you’re on separate tickets
Plan on passing Indian immigration. On two separate bookings you normally collect your bags and check in again, and Delhi doesn’t promise an airside transfer for them. So you need an Indian visa, usually the e-Visa, even if you never planned to leave the airport. If you’re counting on staying airside, ask both airlines before you book.
At the border
Delhi publishes no queue times for arrival immigration, so allow about an hour from landing to the Airport Express. The automated Trusted Traveller lanes are for Indian citizens and OCI cardholders, and no paid fast track is sold for other passports, so queue at the immigration desks with your passport ready and your e-Arrival card done. See getting into the city for timing.
Before you go landside
- Check whether your bags are checked through to your final destination. If they aren’t, collect them and leave them at the cloakroom in the metro building at Terminal 3, open 24 hours.
- Keep your onward boarding pass or e-ticket and your passport on you. You need both to get back into the terminal, which lets in passengers from about 6 hours before an international flight.
- Be back at Terminal 3 90 minutes before your flight. With a bag to drop or no boarding pass yet, come back sooner: Air India’s international counters close 75 minutes before departure. Timings and the ride back: getting into the city.